Nothing Special
by YogaForever
Summary: But, like the snow, when second time examined she was revealed to be nothing special. Mina & Shadow


**Nothing Special **

_By: Sweet Valentine Vampire_

The air was cold and bitter from where he sat, not quite comfortable on the frozen sidewalk in a deadly silence. His shift was over, now that the loud concert has ended and Shadow began to contemplate how important that little teeny-bopper's dream of a pop star was so important that GUN hired him to protect her.

If nothing else, tonight's job had been an insult on his credentials.

"At least the pay's good," Rouge would say, smiling in her alluring way with a wink and sashay of the hips.

Sighing quietly, he resigned himself to watching the snowflakes flutter down. People shuffled on the sidewalks and teenagers of every variety piled out of the stadium. Once the pop star's limo drove off with starlet in-tow, the street in front of him would be empty. He blinked. He marveled a moment at the pure whiteness of the falling snow.

Then, he considered. Decided they were only chunks of ice and they lost their glow. Returning to watching the passerby with an unintended baleful glare, Shadow decided his duty was done and rose from where he sat.

Turning to leave, Shadow's slick shoe almost-stepped when her voice asked, innocently concerned; "Aren't you cold?"

Shadow watched Mina over his shoulder. "I am the Ultimate Lifeform . . . It's _impossible_ for me to get 'cold.'" He said in answer, curt.

The pop star shrunk back visibly, herself wrapped in a lovely coat and adorning a hat. Shadow appeared quite underdressed in comparison. Blushing in embarrassment, Mina stuttered, "I-I didn't mean to offend, r-really. You're just not_ wearing_ anything, and,"

Shadow rose a dismissive hand, and her voice ceased obediently.

"I . . . appreciate . . . your concern," Shadow said slowly, not begrudgingly. He was tired of her overtly saccharine ways. "You may desist of the Sweet Girl act, your show is over."

"Act?" Mina repeated, sounding indignant. "What do you mean by that, Shadow?"

Arching one eyebrow at her, Shadow restrained the eye roll within and said, instead, "on stage. All the sugary, fluff songs. Enough's enough. Save it for your fans."

Glaring severely, the menace was lost on Mina's face. "You aren't being very nice to me. What did I do to you?"

"Simply existed," Shadow almost said, but that was more appropriate an expression for someone of Sonic's caliber.

"I am not interested in being nice. I am simply interested in performing my duties to the best of my ability," Shadow retorted, turning away from Mina without ever realizing he'd turned to face her initially. "And I've done that," he finished, taking the beginning steps of leaving eyeshot. From there, he'd Chaos Control back to base. "So, I bid you farewell, Miss Mongoose."

Clenching her small hands into fists at her sides, Mina stood her ground and pursed her lips. Irritated beyond measure at Shadow. He was just like the hateful people who insulted her and judged her without taking the time to understand the real her or the message in her lyrics.

"Whatever," Mina finally seethed, remembering all the speeches Ash - her manager - had made on accepting that not everyone was going to like her. Remembering all the advice to take it 'with a grain of salt' - from her mother. Knowing she had her father's temper. "But, you don't have the _right_ to judge me. Just get back to work, clock-puncher."

Shadow snorted.

"Don't laugh at me!"

"Why not?" Asked Shadow, turning halfway and crossing his arms. He shrugged his shoulders, "you're quite hilarious when upset, Miss Mongoose."

"My name is Mina."

"It's all the same," with another shrug of the shoulders. How he could be insulting one moment and flippant the next was beyond Mina. "Please, do calm down."

"Oh, you're so . . ." Mina huffed, tightening her hands. Her glare was hot, and she was turning red in anger.

"'So' what, Miss Mina?" Shadow challenged.

"Look," Mina deflated, exasperated. "I was just trying to be courteous. Excuse me for thinking you could possibly be cold. It was my mistake, but you don't have to have such an attitude about everything," she knew she should stop. But, Mina just couldn't. She was on a roll. "You act just like Sonic says you do."

Shadow snorted again, this time sounding offended and indifferent at once. Mina figured he was offended, but was trying to cover it up. She didn't think about this at the moment, however.

"What happened to your preaching about me not judging you?"

"I'm treating you like you treated me," Mina answered, with no shortage of venom.

"Hypocrite," Shadow decided easily, trying to turn away for the third time.

"Jerk," Mina retaliated. Wasn't she always scolding Ash for arguing like this? Maybe he was rubbing off on her . . .

"And so the sugar princess facade comes to an end," said Shadow, sarcastic. He smirked for just a second, like he found himself amusing.

"Oh, shut up," Mina gaped at him. Could he ever fluster her, make her so fed up. Shadow almost chuckled at her souring mood. "You have such a bad attitude."

"Look who's talking," Shadow retorted, but without surliness for once.

"Why are you being so mean to me?" Mina asked, beside herself.

"Perhaps, it is not toward you that my anger is directed," Shadow began, articulate with his words as always. "Perhaps, I am simply irritable by the fact that I, a wielder of Chaos Magic and Ultimate Lifeform, am stuck playing babysitter to a bratty teenager singing for other bratty teenagers. Maybe I don't rate you with the same importance as saving the planet and stopping the plans of evil dictators with the power to annihilate millions."

"Maybe I don't rank," Mina decided, still upset and ignoring the 'bratty teenager' thing. "But, protecting me is still your job, and you've gotta do that."

"I've done that."

"With a smile on your face?"

"I work for GUN, not Wal-Mart."

"Ultimate Lifeform _and_ witty, nice."

". . . You aren't as cute as your fans think you are."

"I'll have you know it can be just as dangerous protecting me as it can be fighting Robotnik."

"You just changed the . . ."

"In fact, I was almost assassinated by a gun-toter in the audience."

"Really?" He didn't sound particularly enthused, but wasn't ironic about it, either.

She nodded, "and then, they tried to blow me up."

"You do mean with a bomb, right?" Shadow arched a brow in disbelief.

"No-no, with Bomb, not a bomb. And he only tried doing this after the robot - Heavy - failed to bludgeon me to death."

"You're a popular girl, it would appear," Shadow finally smiled, with a light back-and-forth motion of the head. This was insane. Who'd do all this to a simple pop star?

"Or unpopular, if you think about it another way," Mina sighed, a bit annoyed at all the homicide attempts she'd had made against her. "But, I swear, groupies are worse."

When the hedgehog only snorted, Mina informed, "it's a joke, you're supposed to laugh."

Shadow nodded, and turned away. "It was a pleasure doing business with you, Mina."

Mina's eyes widened, surprised that he'd say that. She boiled it down to nothing but sarcasm on his part and watched his figure retreat into the shadows of the vanishing horizon line of the sidewalk. Snowflakes fluttered down against the black, black darkness and she marveled at how white they were.

Biting her lip, Mina turned red with embarrassment as she wondered what he'd say to her for that. He'd tell her they were chunks of ice and nothing else.

When she looked again at the falling snow, they'd lost their glow.

"Mina?" A different voice called, and Mina whirled around.

"Ash!"

"Calm down," he smiled, kindly, tying his scarf a bit tighter. "Why are you out here? You're gonna catch your death of cold."

"I'm the Ultimate Pop Star, I don't get cold." Mina declared, joking. Ash laughed.

"Where do you come up with this stuff? Yeesh," Ash threw an arm around her shoulder. "Come on, the car's ready."

"Oh, alright." Mina sighed, and let him lead her off. "How was Shadow?"

"Hmm?"

"I mean, you guys were backstage together and everything, how'd you guys get along?"

"He seemed like an okay guy to me. He was cool, I guess." Ash shrugged. "I don't know. Why?"

"He's a bit surly," Mina mumbled.

"Really? You think so?" Ash puzzled, opening Mina's door for her and waiting until she was comfortably seated before sliding in. "I didn't get any surly vibes, actually." Ash shut the door.

Mina outright giggled, "well, of course you didn't! You guys are probably meant to be friends."

"And that's supposed to mean . . .?"

"Oh, Ash. I'm just kidding, hon."

"Hey, um, were you talking to someone before I got there? You seemed a little frazzled."

"I was, but I wasn't. It was more like I was you when I was talking, anyway. All the arguing I did. I was just worried that he'd get cold is all."

The air wasn't entirely cold and nothing like bitter, Shadow decided as he entered the GUN building, carrying a signed CD he'd promised to get Rouge.

"Naw, her music's not really my style, but imagine how much I could get for that autograph online." Rouge had said when he asked.

The lyrics didn't stand out to him, but Shadow promised himself to read through them all. Mina seemed so passionate about not being judged that she had to be worth something, didn't she? Well, he flipped another page, he didn't understand what her problem was. Honestly, she was too nice. Like she put the false in falsetto. Or, whatever.

Done with this, Shadow almost closed the book when one of the album illustrations caught his eye. Slowly, he reopened the book and examined it better. The blue lines seemed to form the figure of a girl in 'punk' gear, sticking her tongue out at the viewer.

Lyrics in blue hand-writing style font read:

_Some say write about your feelings_

_Or write about your broken heart_

_But how do I write' I'm bored'_

_And make it sound like I'm fallin' apart?_

_Well, I don't know_

_And I don't know_

_Some say talk about your feelings _

_And then they tell you 'you're so dark'_

_So, I'll tell them what they want_

_And none of us has to ever fall apart_

_Pretend I don't know_

_Yeah, I don't know_

It made Shadow smirk. She was, at least, honest.

But, like the snow, when second time examined she was revealed to be nothing special.

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A/N: I haaaate this! Well, I don't hate anything I write, I just despise it with every fiber of my being until I eventually lead it to ruin in a recycling bin where its only hope is deletion . . . Mwahahaha!

So, I'll stop freaking out and acting like a spaz. This was originally supposed to be fluff because my best friend is a Mina x Shadow nut, but I couldn't make that work and they end up arguing. Sorry, Ciella, but this is my challenge entry. Try not to hurt your eyes. Also, I had a hell of a time choosing a character to write, because my hardest characters are Knuckles, Shadow, Mina, Ash and Geoffrey St. John. I fit three of five in here. Knuckles shalt appear in a father's day special I'm doing and Geoff is popping in for the third Knothole High Mini Ficlet Thing. Don't know what I'm talking about? Too bad.

Um-um-um . . .Review?

Lates Mates,

Sweet Valentine Vampire =D

6/17/09

P.S. The song appearing in the story, yeah . . . . Those are lyrics for one of my own original songs, entitled "IDK - IDC." Cooro and I are starting a band. X3

Sorta.


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